(iii) Social violence—forcing the wife/daughter-in-law to go for female foeticide, eve-teasing, refusing to give a share to women in property, forcing a young widow to commit sati, harassing the daughter-in- law to bring more dowry…

The analysis here is focused on the first two types of violence using the data from my own empirical study on “Crimes against Women” conducted in 1982-84 in Rajasthan (Ahuja, 1987). The cases of criminal violence against women can be obtained from the records compiled by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Police Research Bureau, and the Na­tional Institute of Social Defence.

According to the figures given by these agencies, the crime figures pertaining to six types of crimes against women in India in the five years between 1990 and 1994 indicate that these crimes have been constantly increasing every year. Broadly speak­ing, every year about 11,000 rapes, 21,000 molestations, 12,000 kidnappings, 20,000 cases of torture, 10,000 cases of eve-teasing, and 5,000 cases of dowry deaths take place (Crime in India, 1994: 212).

In 1994, the number of different cases recorded was: torture: 25,946; mo­lestation: 24,117; eve-teasing: 10,496; kidnapping and abduction: 12,998; rape: 12,351 and dowry death: 4,935 (Ibid: 212). Of the total crimes against women under the IPC every year (about 80,000), 25 per cent are torture cases, 27 per cent are molestation cases, 13 per cent are eve-teasing cases, 15 per cent are kidnapping and abduction cases, 14 per cent are rape cases, and 6 per cent are dowry death cases (Ibid: 212).

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As regards crimes under the local and special laws in 1993, 12,426 cases were recorded under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 2,679 cases under the Dowry Prohibition Act and five cases under the Sati (Prevention) Act. In 1994, the number of cases recorded was: Immoral Traffic Act: 7,547, Indecent Representation of Women Act: 349 and Sati Act: 2 (Ibid: 212). It may be said that a rape takes place once in every 47 minutes, eve-teasing once in every 44 minutes, molestation once in every 25 minutes, a dowry death once in every 90 minutes, and a kidnapping once in every 44 minutes.

Some figures were published on crimes against women in Punjab in April 1995 on the basis of a year-long study conducted by the Institute for Development and Communication. According to these figures, one woman is criminally assaulted in Punjab every 89 minutes, 8 women fall prey to the dowry greed every day, one severe wife-beating takes place every 13 minutes, 31 women get molested every day, and one case of eve-teasing occurs every 19 minutes. Further, for each reported rape, 68 unreported rapes, for each reported eve-teasing 9,200 unreported eve- teasing cases occur in Punjab.

The increase in crimes against women in Delhi is evident from the increase in the number of cases reported by the Crime against Women Cell (CAWC) and by other police stations in Delhi. The number of com­plaints in 1984 increased by about five times in 1994-from 1,550 to 7,570 (The Hindustan Times, April 9, 1995).

The cases went up not nec­essarily because of increased reporting but it only indicates an increased awareness about gender parity and women’s rights, the confidence of the victims in the new laws for their protection, and because of institutions such as Mahila Courts, Family Courts, and NGOs working for women.

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But we know that all cases are not reported and recorded for various rea­sons. The cases of domestic violence like wife-battering and forced in­cest with the women of the household are never reported at all. But by referring to the compiled cases, we get some ideas of the nature and ex­tent of violence against women.